A Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich) is a landlocked country in central Europe. It borders Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. A capital is the city of Vienna.

Austria occurs as parliamentary representative democracy consisting of nine federal states and is one of 2 European countries that use at times declared their everlasting neutrality, the more existence Switzerland. Austria occurs as member of United Nations and the European Union.

Origin and history of the name

A German name Österreich can be translated into English as the "eastern realm", which is from either a Old German Ostarrîchi. "Reich" can as well mean "empire," & this connotation is the 1 that is understood in the context of the Austrian/Austro-Hungarian Empire, German Empire, "Third Reich," or even Holy Roman Empire, although non in the context of the modern Republic of "Österreich." the term probably originates within a vernacular translation of the Medieval Latin name for the region: Marchia orientalis, which translates when "eastern border," as it was placed at a eastern edge of the Holy Roman Empire, that was also mirrored in the title Ostmark applied after Anschluss to the Third Reich.

History

Austria and the Holy Roman Empire

A territory of Austria, by so a Celtic kingdom of Noricum, which was a long period ally of Rome, (cows & early steel) & like occupied than conquered per Romans during the reign of Augustus and made a province Noricum around 16 BC. Late it was conquered by Huns, Rugii, Lombards, Ostrogoths, Bavarii, Avars (till about 800), & Franks (in that the correct sequence). Eventually, when Fifty years of Hungarian rule (907 to 955), a core territory of Austria was awarded to Leopold of Babenberg in 976. Existence a portion of the Holy Roman Empire a Babenbergs ruled and expanded Austria from either the 10th century to the 13th century.

Battle of Vienna 1683

Fallowing Duke Frederick II died in 1246 and left no successor, a German King Rudolf I of Habsburg gave a lands to his sons marking the beginning of the line of the Habsburgs, who continued to govern Austria until a 20th century.

Using a short exception of Charles VII Albert of Bavaria, Austrian Habsburgs held the position of German Emperor beginning around 1438 by using Albert II of Habsburg until the prevent of the Holy Roman Empire. When you took a 14th and 15th century Austria continued to expand its territory until it reached the position of a European major power at the prevent of the 15th century until the prevent of the Habsburg monarchy around 1918.

Modern history

Fallowing a abolishment of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Empire of Austria was founded, which was transformed in 1867 into the double-monarchy Austria-Hungary. A empire was split into many independent states inside 1918, after a kill of the Central Powers in World War I, with virtually all of the German-speaking arethe becoming a republic. (Watch Treaty of Saint-Germain.) Between 1918 and 1919 it was officially known as a Republic of German Austria (Republik Deutschösterreich). Fallowing a Entente powers forbade German Austria to unite with Germany, it likewise forbade a title, so it was changed to only Republic of Austria. A democratic republic lasted until 1933 when the chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß established an autocratic regime oriented towards Italian fascism (Austrofascism).

Austria became a share of Germany in 1938 (the Anschluß) amidst popular acclaim. When a kill of the Axis Powers, the Allies occupied Austria at the end of World War II in Europe until 1955, when a united states once more became a fully independent republic under the affliction that it remained neutral (view as well: Austrian State Treaty). In this season it as well became the member of the UN. When a collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, Austria became increasingly included inside European affairs, & within 1995, Austria joined the European Union, and a Euro monetary system inside 1999.

Politics
Austrian Parliament

Austrithe has been a federal, parliamentary democracy republic since the Federal Constitution of 1920, which was agawithin reintroduced in 1945 to the nine states of the Federal Republic. A head of state is the Federal President, who is directly elected. A president of the Federal Government is the Federal Chancellor, who is appointed per president & voted into professional per majority of the Nationalrat, the National Council of Austria. The food and drug administration may be recalled by the vote of no confidence in the National Council.

A Austrian parliament consists of deuce chambers. the composition of the Nationalrat is determined each quaternary years by a loose general election where each citizen is allowed to vote to fill its 183 seats. The "Four Percent Hurdle" prevents the big chip of the political landscape in the Nationalrat by award seats sole to political parties that develop received at least 4 percent of the general vote, or even even instead, use won the directly seat, or Direktmandat, around one of a 43 regional voting precinct. A Nationalrat is the dominant chamber inside the formation of legislation in Austria. Still, a upper home of parliament, a Bundesrat has a limited perfect of veto (a Nationalrat may pass a various bill another period bypassing the Bundesrat altogether). a convention, known as the Österreich Konvent [http://www.konvent.gv.at/] was convened inside June 30, 2003 to decide upon suggestions to reform the constitution.

Subdivisions

The federal republic, Austria is divided into nine states, (German: Bundesländer). These states come divided into districts (Bezirke) and cities (Statutarstädte). Dominion come subdivided into municipalities (Gemeinden). Cities keep around a competence otherwise granted to two dominion & municipalities. A states are non mere administrative divisions, however keep close at hand a bit of distinct legislative authority separate from either a federal government.

Geography

Topography of Austria

Austria occurs as largely mountainous country due to its location in the Alps. A Central Eastern Alps, Northern Limestone Alps and Southern Limestone Alps are all part inside Austria. Of the amount metropolitan arethe of Austria (84,000 km²), just astir a quarter may be considered moo fabrication, & simply 32% of the united states is in the image below Five hundred metres. A high mountainous Alps in the west of Austria flatten somewhat into moo lands & plains in the east of the united states.

Austria can be divided into Fivesome different areas. A large vicinity come a Austrian Alps, which constitute 62% of Austria's amount metropolitan area. A Austrian foothills at a base of the Alps and the Carpathians account for around 12% of its vicinity. A foothills in a east & areas surrounding the outer boundary of the Pannoni moo united states aggregate to all about 12% of the total landmass. A 2nd greater mountain locality (very much moo than a Alps) is placed northerly. Called a Austrian granite plateau, it is in the central region of the Bohemian Mass, & accounts for 10% of Austria. A Austrian part of the Viennese basin comprises the left over 4%.

Climate
A greater a portion of Austria lies in the cool/temperate climate zone in which humid westerly winds predominate. By having across half of the united states dominated per Alps the alpine climate is the predominate of these. In a East a climate shows continental features sustaining less rain than the American alpine areas by having high rain norm.

A half a dozen greatest mountains inside Austria come:

Economy

Austrithe has a easily-developed social market economy and a high standard of living. Until a Eighties numerous of Austria's big industry business firm were nationalised, all the same around recent years privatization has reduced state holdings to the level corresponding to more European economies. Labour movements come particularly hard around Austria & keep around big influence in labour politics.

Germany has historically been the independent day trading partner of Austria, making it vulnerable to rapid changes in the German economy. Slow incubation around Germany & elsewhere in the globe affected Austria, slowing its incubation to One.2% around 2001. However since Austrithe became a member state of the European Union it has gained closer ties to more European Union economies, reducing its economic dependence on Germany. Additionally, membership in the EU has drawn an inflow of foreign investors attracted by Austria's access to the individual European market & proximity to EU aspirant economies. So estimates of incubation inside 2005 (up to 2%) come very much other favourable than in the incapacitating German economy.

Agriculture: Austrian farms, prefer victims of more west European mountainous countries, come little & disunited, & production is comparatively expensive.

Industry: Although a bit of industries, like many irin & steel works & chemical plants, come big industrial enterprises using hundreds to thousands of population, virtually all industrial & commercial enterprises within Austria come comparatively little on an international shell.

Services: Rather within more american countries, a large contributor to Austria's GDP is its service sector. Virtually all notably is tourism, especially winter tourism.

To meet increased competition from either two EU & Central European countries, Austria may want to emphasize knowledge-depending sectors of a economy, prove my point to deregulate the service sector, and lower its taxation effect.

Watch likewise: List of Austrian companies

Demographics
Vienna during the first half of the 18th century, painting by Canaletto

Austria's capital Vienna is one of Europe's major cities with the people exceeding Unity.6 million (Two million using suburban arethe) & is a melting pot of citizens from either completely across Exchange & Eastern Europe. Inside direct contrast to this Metropolis, more cities don't exceed One million indweller, in point of fact a 2nd big city Graz is home of 305,000 humans (followed by Linz with 180,000, Salzburg with 145,00& Innsbruck with 120,000). Totally more cities use at times fewer than 100,000 habitant. Austrians of German first language, by far a united states's big ethnic class action, form between 85% & 89% of Austria's people. In the area of ten percent of Austria's humans come of non-Austrian descent, numerous from either either surrounding countries, especially from a previous East Bloc nations. A Austrian federal states of Carinthia and Styria are home to the important (forearm) Slovenian minority sustaining astir 14,000 members (Austrian nosecount; unofficial many Slovene groups speak of about 40,000). And so-supposed guestworker (Gastarbeiter) & their descendent as well form an crucial minority group in Austria. Around 20,000 Hungarians and 30.000 Croatians live in the east-easternmost Bundesland, Burgenland (formerly a share of Hungary).

A official language, German, is spoken by almost tons residents of the united states. Austria's mountainous terrain led to the development of numerous distinct German idiom. Everthing of the idiom in the united states, all the same, belong to Austro-Bavarian groups of German dialects, using a exception of the accent spoken inside its west-westernmost Bundesland, Vorarlberg, which belongs to the group of Alemannic dialects. There exists besides the distinct grammatical standard for Austrian German with two or three differences to the German spoken around Germany.

Politics concerning ethnic groups (Volksgruppenpolitik) in Austria

An forecasted 25,000-40,000 Slovenians in the Austrian state of Carinthia as well as Croatians & Hungarians inside Burgenl& were recognized as a minority and use at times enjoyed favorite rights ensuing a Austrian State Treaty (Staatsvertrag) of 1955. A Slovenians in the Austrian state of Styria (estimated at a total between 1,600 & 5,000) are non recognized as a minority & don't enjoy favorite rights, although a State Accord of July 27, 1955 states otherwise. a right for bilingual topographical signs for the regions in which Slovene & Croatian speaking Austrians survive alongside using the German speaking people (every bit compulsory per 1955 State Pact) is however to become fully implemented. There exists likewise an undercurrent of mentation amongst area of a Carenthian people that the Slovenian involvement in a partisan war against the Nazi occupation force was the bad tool, & indeed "Tito partisan" is a non an infrequent insult hurled against members of the minority. Numbers of Carinthians come afraid of Slovenian territorial claims, pointing to a fact that Yugoslav troops entered the state when every of the deuce Globe Wars. A todays governor, Jörg Haider, regularly plays the Slovenian card whilst his popularity starts to dwindle, & indeed relies on the hard anti-Slovenian attitudes around numerous area of the province for his power base. Nevertheless, a recent poll suggests that the 2/3 majority of Carinthians come in favour an increase of bilingual topographical check in order to fulfil the requirements placed per State Accord. A second interesting phenomenon is the therefore known as "Windischen-Theorie" [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windischen-Theorie] stating that a Slovenians may be split witharound 2 groups: actual Slovenians & Windische, according to differences inside language between Austrian Slovenians, world health organization were taught Slovenian standard language in school & victims Slovenians, world health organization spoke their local Slovenian accent however attend German schools. To a latter class action the term "Windische" (originally the German word for Slovenians) was applied, claiming that it were a different ethnic class action. This theory was never usually accepted & has been at long last rejected many decades ago.

List of cities in Austria

Religion

When northern & central Germany was a origin of the Reformation, Austria (and Bavaria) were a heart of the Counter-Reformation in the 16th and 17th century, when a absolute monarchy of Habsburg imposed a nonindulgent regime to maintain Catholicism's power and influence among Austrians. Despite this establishment of Catholicism when a predominant Christian religion (Protestants have throughout Austria's history remained the comparatively little class action), Austria's history as the transnational state has processed it necessary for Habsburg rulers to treat by using a heterogeneous religious people. Religious freedom wwhen declared the constitutional correct when early as 1867 and Austria-Hungary was home of many religions beside Roman Catholicism such as Greek, Serbian, Romanian, Russian, and Bulgarian Orthodox Christians, Jews, Muslims (Austria neighboured the Turkish empire for centuries), Mormons and both Calvinists and Lutheran Protestants.

However Austria remained largely influenced by Catholicism. Fallowing 1918 Number one Republic Catholic leaders like Theodor Innitzer and Ignaz Seipel took leading positions within or even more or less a Austrian Government & increased their influence when you took a instance of the Austrofascism – Catholicism was treated much such as the state religion by dictators Engelbert Dollfuss and Kurt Schuschnigg. Although Catholic leaders welcomed a Germans within 1938 during the Anschluss of Austria into Hitlerite Germany, Austrian Catholicism stopped its support of Nazism later on and numbers of previous Religious name became required by having a trend lines when you took a Third Reich. Fallowing 1945 the nonindulgent secularism was imposed inside Austria & religious influence in politics has about vanished.

When of the prevent of the 20th century about 73% of Austria's population come registered when Roman Catholic, when all about 5% assume themselves Protestants. Two these totals develop been on the decline for decades, especially Roman Catholicm has suffered an increasing total of seceders of the church. This dollarfish part to sexual abuse scandals of children by priests besides when a alleged involuntariness of the Roman Catholic Church to implement reforms. Additionally Austrians Catholics come obliged to pay a compulsory taxation (estimated by income – ca 1%) to the Austrian Roman Catholic Church, which acts when a second incentive to leave the church.

All about 12% of the people declare that it don't belong to any church or religious community. Of the unexpended population, astir 180,000 come members of the Eastern Orthodox Church and about 7,300 come Jewish. It has to exist as noted that a Austrian Jewish Community of 1938 – Vienna alone counted to a higher degree 200,000, of which only 4,000 to 5,000 remained fallowing a Second World War. A inflow of Eastern Europeans, especially from either a previous Yugoslav nations, Albania & particularly from Turkey largely contributed to a material Muslim minority inside Austria – when much as 300,000 come registered as members of various Muslim communities. A many population adhering to the Islam has increased largely during a previous years & is required to develop later. Buddhism, which was legally recognized as a religion within Austria in 1983, enjoys far flung acceptance & has a charted of 20,000 (10,402 at the 2001 census).

The 2005 survey among 8,000 population around various European countries showed that Austrians are however among a countries by owning a conviction around God. 84% of everthing Austrians clean state it imagine around God, by owning merely Poland (97%), Portugal (90%) & Russia (87%) in front of the countries surveyed. This occurs as very much big figure than a European typical of 71% or even Germany with 67%. [http://www.readers-digest.de/service_fuer_journalisten/index.php?id=mrd&no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=251&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=15]

Culture
Ludwig Wittgenstein

Although Austria occurs as little united states, its history as a major power & its unique ethnic environment inside the heart of Europe keep around generated contributions to man in each imaginable field. Austria is presumptively internationally better known for its musicians. It has been a birthplace of several famous composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, Anton Bruckner, Johann Strauss, Sr., Johann Strauss, Jr. or Gustav Mahler as well as members of the Second Viennese School such as Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern or Alban Berg.

Complementing its status as the l& of creative person, Austria has universally been a united states of peachy poets, writers and novelists. It was a page of novelists Arthur Schnitzler, Stefan Zweig, Thomas Bernhard or Robert Musil, of poets Georg Trakl, Franz Werfel, Franz Grillparzer, Rainer Maria Rilke or Adalbert Stifter. Notable contemporary dramatist & novelists come Elfriede Jelinek and Peter Handke. Among Austrian creative person & designer 1 potty call for painters Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Egon Schiele or Friedensreich Hundertwasser, photographer Inge Morath or architect Otto Wagner.

Austria was a cradle of many man of science including physicists Ludwig Boltzmann, Lise Meitner, Erwin Schrödinger, Ernst Mach, Wolfgang Pauli, Richard von Mises and Christian Doppler, philosophers Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper, biologists Gregor Mendel and Konrad Lorenz as well as mathematician Kurt Gödel. It was residence to psychologists Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, Paul Watzlawick and Hans Asperger, psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, economists Joseph Schumpeter, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, Ludwig von Mises, and Friedrich Hayek (Austrian School), and engineers like Ferdinand Porsche and Siegfried Marcus.

Although Austrians potty look back proudly inside their ethnical past, todays Austria doesn't could have back in art & science. Austrithe hosts a wow total of culture, by using its classical music festivals within Vienna, Salzburg and Bregenz, its modern artists & writers, its theatres & opera.

List of Austrians Music of Austria

Miscellaneous topics

Austrian folk dancing Austrian German Communications in Austria Cuisine of Austria Education in Austria Foreign relations of Austria Military of Austria Public holidays in Austria Spanish Riding School Stamps and postal history of Austria Tourism in Austria Transportation in Austria